Cooling apparatus and control method thereof

Abstract

A cooling apparatus includes a storage compartment, an evaporator to cool air in the storage compartment by evaporating a refrigerant, a compressor to compress the refrigerant evaporated by the evaporator, an air blower to supply the air cooled by the evaporator to the storage compartment and to remove frost formed on the evaporator, a storage temperature sensor to sense a temperature of the storage compartment, a driving unit to drive the compressor and the air blower, and a controller to perform a defrosting operation of operating the air blower to remove frost formed on the evaporator when a cooling operation of cooling the storage compartment is terminated and to perform the cooling operation, wherein the controller defers, when the defrosting operation is being performed, operation of the compressor, even if the temperature of the storage compartment is greater than or equal to the storage upper limit temperature.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A cooling apparatus comprising:
 a storage compartment to store articles in a cooled state; 
 an evaporator to cool air in the storage compartment by evaporating a refrigerant; 
 a compressor to compress the evaporated refrigerant; 
 an air blower to supply the cooled air to the storage compartment; 
 a storage temperature sensor to sense a temperature of the storage compartment; and 
 a controller to perform a cooling operation of operating the compressor and the air blower to cool the storage compartment when the temperature of the storage compartment is above an upper limit temperature, and to perform a defrosting operation of operating the air blower to remove frost formed on the evaporator when the cooling operation is terminated, 
 wherein the defrosting operation is performed for a minimum defrosting time or more, and the cooling operation is prevented when a defrosting time for which the defrosting operation is performed is less than the minimum defrosting time, 
 when the temperature of the storage compartment is above the upper limit temperature after the minimum defrost time has elapsed since the defrosting operation is performed, the controller terminates the defrosting operation and performs the cooling operation, and 
 when the temperature of the storage compartment is below the upper limit temperature after the minimum defrost time has elapsed since the defrosting operation is performed, the controller continues the defrosting operation. 
 
     
     
       2. The cooling apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising an external air temperature sensor to sense a temperature of external air outside of the storage compartment,
 wherein the minimum defrosting time is changed according to the sensed temperature of the external air. 
 
     
     
       3. The cooling apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the minimum defrosting time decreases when the temperature of the external air increases. 
     
     
       4. The cooling apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the controller terminates the cooling operation and performs the defrosting operation when the temperature of the storage compartment is below a lower limit temperature. 
     
     
       5. The cooling apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a defrosting temperature sensor to sense a temperature of the evaporator,
 wherein the controller terminates the defrosting operation when the sensed evaporator temperature is above a defrosting termination temperature and the defrosting time is greater than or equal to the minimum defrosting time. 
 
     
     
       6. The cooling apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the controller terminates the defrosting operation when the defrosting time is greater than or equal to a maximum defrosting time being greater than the minimum defrosting time. 
     
     
       7. The cooling apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the controller terminates the cooling operation and performs the defrosting operation when a continuous operation time of the compressor is greater than or equal to a maximum cooling time. 
     
     
       8. The cooling apparatus according to  claim 7 , further comprising a defrosting temperature sensor to sense a temperature of the evaporator,
 wherein the controller terminates the defrosting operation when the sensed evaporator temperature is above a defrosting termination temperature and the defrosting time is greater than or equal to the minimum defrosting time. 
 
     
     
       9. The cooling apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the defrosting operation is terminated when the defrosting time is greater than or equal to a maximum defrosting time being greater than the minimum defrosting time. 
     
     
       10. A control method of a cooling apparatus comprising a storage compartment, an evaporator to cool air in the storage compartment by evaporating a refrigerant, a compressor to compress the refrigerant evaporated by the evaporator, and an air blower to supply the air cooled by the evaporator to the storage compartment, the control method comprising:
 performing a cooling operation of operating the compressor and the air blower to cool the storage compartment when the temperature of the storage compartment is greater than or equal to an upper limit temperature; and 
 performing a defrosting operation of operating the air blower to remove at least frost formed on the evaporator when the cooling operation is terminated, 
 wherein the defrosting operation is performed for a minimum defrosting time or more, and the cooling operation is prevented when a defrosting time for which the defrosting operation is performed is less than the minimum defrosting time, 
 when the temperature of the storage compartment is above the upper limit temperature after the minimum defrost time has elapsed since the defrosting operation is performed, terminating the defrosting operation and performing the cooling operation, and 
 when the temperature of the storage compartment is below the upper limit temperature after the minimum defrost time has elapsed since the defrosting operation is performed, continuing the defrosting operation. 
 
     
     
       11. The control method according to  claim 10 , wherein the minimum defrosting time is changed according to a temperature of external air outside of the storage compartment. 
     
     
       12. The control method according to  claim 11 , wherein the minimum defrosting time decreases when the temperature of the external air increases. 
     
     
       13. The control method according to  claim 10 , further comprising terminating the cooling operation and performing the defrosting operation when the temperature of the storage compartment is below a lower limit temperature. 
     
     
       14. The control method according to  claim 13 , further comprising terminating the defrosting operation when a temperature of the evaporator is above a defrosting termination temperature and the defrosting time is greater than or equal to the minimum defrosting time. 
     
     
       15. The control method according to  claim 13 , further comprising terminating the defrosting operation when the defrosting time is greater than or equal to a maximum defrosting time being greater than the minimum defrosting time. 
     
     
       16. The control method according to  claim 10 , further comprising;
 terminating the cooling operation and performing the defrosting operation when a continuous operation time of the compressor is greater than or equal to a maximum cooling time. 
 
     
     
       17. The control method according to  claim 16 , further comprising terminating the defrosting operation when the temperature of the evaporator is above a defrosting termination temperature and the defrosting time is greater than or equal to the minimum defrosting time. 
     
     
       18. The control method according to  claim 16 , further comprising terminating the defrosting operation when the defrosting time is greater than or equal to a maximum defrosting time being greater than the minimum defrosting time.